rock climbing Ettringen and Berdorf

The last two weekends I went climbing in Ettringen and Berdorf. Together with Miel and Fien we discoverd some new routes in Kottenheim, sector Arena and then to the left of "Seide und Schwert", more info you will get here. As strong evidence from this good jamming workout I had some serious muscle soreness in my upper arms and spine for the next two days, yeah.


Last weekeind I went to Berdorf (Luxembourg) for some sandstone climbing. I heard a lot of good stories in advanced but never went to this favourite climbing spot of a lot of German and Dutch climbers in this area. Well, indeed, the climbing was really cool. There are a lot of easy lines (mostly diedres) but also some really hard shit. I spotted one guy climbing a 8a+ on the Herman Buhl rock, cool!
I climbed one 6c and a few easier routes. Marieke and I also did some hiking and on our way home we went to Echternach (cake and coffee, mmmmm....) and to the lake (nice swimming).
The climbing in Berdorf is really good, but to be honest: too many people in this small area, a lot of screaming, rubbish and other human waste.... unbelievable. Currently there are no real restrictions (you only have to get a permit), but everybody gets it. And if we behave like this, I'm sure there will be some serious restrictions to access the area in the nearby future. Of course I will return, but not in the weekend!

Ecrins 2

Two weeks ago I climbed some really nice routes with Andreas in the western part of the Ecrins. Now we went to the eastern part, to Ailefroide. The eastern part is mostly better protected against the bad weather which usually comes from the west. The weather forecast was not brilliant but it should be ok for a few days. After a few days we hoped that It would be possibly to climb some real stuff.

Trip 1: First we went to the Sagnette. The Sagnette is one of the rocky tops on the north side of the glacier noir. 2 really nice routes in excellent granite are located there. Both routes start at the bottom, and the first four pitches bring you to the base of the pyramide. The pyramide starts with the real climbing, 6a+, 6b, 6a+,… 12 pitches in the pyramide. Really nice and sustained climbing.

We really enjoyed this route. It took us 5,5 hours to get to the top, we were so happy that I unfortunately sent my ATC into depth… the following rappel action was quite interesting because I had to descent on a belay knot (HMS). As a consequence the rope twisted every rappel. It was quite a hazel to reorganize the ropes, but it keeps you busy outdoors, so we enjoyed the climbing and even the descent.


The Sagnette - seen from the parking...


Bernd in the fourt hpitch just below the pyramide


Bernd at the start of the crux pitch 6b+

Trip 2: The next day should be good weather, and we thought well it’s time to try a serious route: Aurore Nucleaire, a Michel Cambon route from 1986. The route is located on the famous north face of the Pic Sans Nom. A long approach along the glacier noir and a wild route up to 6b in 14 pitches without bolts, rated ED.

We started at 5.45h on the parking lot at Pre, walked in 3,5 hours. It was very windy, which made it very cold… we went up to the bergschrund and it was very scary, the snow was quite unstable and after crossing the bergschrund we would have to traverse polished slabs which were not protectable. In combination with the cool temperatures we were very unsure if we could climb a 6b in this conditions. In the original topo this tricky traverse does not exist, but because of the glacier melting in the last 20 years one or two pitches have to be climbed nowadays… it was a hard decision but the combination of factors made us to decide to go back.


long but beautiful walk in, the Pic Sans Nom is to the left with the first light on top




checking out the possibilities crossing the bergschrund

Trip 3: The next morning we checked the weather forecast again, and we got some really terrible news. In the Ecrins, Chamonix, but also the south part of Switzerland it would be rainy until the mid of next week.

So we decided to cancel our trip and give our favourite routes another try in a week or so. Leaving Ailefroide we made a short stop in Ponteil. We climbed L’Araignee, a really cool steep/overhanging multi pitch route up to 6b (trust me, it felt more like a 6c/7a, I redpointed the route the difficult pitch anyway). 


Bernd seconding the third steep pitch just below the nice roof

Val di Mello

Initially Bernd and I planned to go climbing in the Bergell, Switzerland. The famous Cassin route on the north east face of Piz Badile was our main target. Saturday afternoon I drove to Bernd in Basel. We had a nice dinner and the next morning we did the last weather check. It should be o.k., but like the weeks and maybe even months before the main weather situation was far from stable. So we decided to drive to the Bergell and before walking up to the hut we called the gardien. We got the message: “to wet, wait a few days…”. Ok then, we decided to drive another 2,5 hours to the Italian side of the Badile and do so some adventure climbing in the val di Mello.

Next morning we started climbing the “Kundalini”. One of the major classics in the valley. 12 pitches in cool cracks, slabs and traverses. The belays are on in situ pitons. Along the route there are some pitons as well, but basically you have to protect the whole route yourself. We took two complete sets of friends with us and with all the gear all relevant sections are protectable.

5 hours of climbing brought to us to the top of the route. We checked out the start of Luna Nascente which  starts immediately at the top of the Kundalini. Unfortunately the next morning we had some serious rain (which of course was not predicted). As it turned out the bad weather would stay for days….

This summer is really difficult if you want to work on your projects… so we went to the Ecrins again.

one of the traverses under the big roof...

and so on...

post-climbing-rehydration 

Facts: Kundalini, TD, max 6b, 12 pitches, bring  2 full racks of friends and enough slings to minimize  rope drag in the traverses. A retreat in the route is difficult. For a good topo use the “topoguides”. Funny enough the Kundalini is even mentioned in the Suisse plaisir guide south. I mean, the route was fun but definitely not accessible to “plaisir climbers”… other cool routes in the valley are the Luna Nascente and Oceano Irrazionale.

Ettringen 2

Afgelopen jaar had ik met Miel ook een aantal mooie dagtrips naar Ettringen gemaakt - de Ettringen connection. tradities moet je natuurlijk zelf onderhouden, dus gisteren zaten we al weer in de auto. na een rondje nieuwe rotsen spotten kwamen we uiteindelijk weer bij het Yosemite wandchen terecht. daar hadden we afgelopen week ook al wat routes geklommen. De 7- van vorige keer had ik deze keer dan ook gelijk kunnen rotpunkten.
er was een nieuw project nodig: Nolite Lacrimare, een 7 met een heel vet dak. Miel ging als eerste in de aanvalspositie, onderin goed af te zekeren, bij de crux net uit het dak was ook een haak, maar daar boven moest je echt nog 4 meter doorklimmen, best spannend, heel compacte rots. bij de eerste poging vloog Miel eruit, helaas tijdens de val met zijn voet achter het touw, die vlucht zag er indrukwekkend uit. met een degelijke kneuzing van zijn onderrug was het de rest van de dag topropen.... maar wel goed geklommen!
daarna zijn we nog in de Arena geweest om nog aan onze crack techniek te werken.

CRACK ATTACK Ettringen

Gisteren met Miel naar Ettringen gereden om een dagje te klimmen. Gericht onze crack climbing techniek verbeteren. In Kottenheim zijn in de sector Yosemite wändchen geweest. De eerste handjams, finger stacks and fist jams waren nog wat onwennig: doet die't of doet die't niet.
het leuke aan crack climbing is dat een total body workout is, goede lichaamsspanning en het gebruik van de spleet is echt anders dan frontaal op een muurtje klimmen. ik zeg, zo snel mogelijk weer daar naar toe.